Dodgers TV Deal Allows For Limited Revenue Sharing

The Dodgers' 2011 bankruptcy court settlement gives the club's new owners a chance to cap income subject to revenue-sharing from a proposed regional sports network, five people familiar with the agreement's special terms tell John Helyar, Steven Church, and Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg.com. The deal, which was first reported by Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, calls for revenue sharing from a TV deal to be capped at $84MM while TV sports-rights experts say the team could net as much as $225MM a year from a network’s rights fees.

The terms of the agreement likely boosted the value of the franchise, resulting in their $2.15 billion sale in April and allowing them to make upwards of $400MM in future commitments to Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez, and others. One TV sports-rights expert notes that the deal could prompt other owners to seek similar treatment and relief from revenue sharing in relation to broadcast rights.

Meanwhile, Robert Manfred Jr., an MLB executive vice president who deals with revenue-sharing matters, insists that the team will share based on its income from the actual contract and not the settlement-set $84MM figure. Manfred Jr. went on to say that the club's record-setting price tag was the result of it being a flaghsip team in the second-biggest media market and not because of the special terms related to the TV deal.